The Dark Knight Movie Review

And it hasn't failed to dazzle audiences. The movie broke box-office records for opening night and opening weekend returns and has put the Batman franchise back in the center of popular culture. But this is not the Batman of our fathers, when Adam West and Burt Ward paraded in tights and dashed the hopes of supervillains with cheesy catch-phrases and shark repellant spray. It's not even the darker Batman that Tim Burton gave us. And it is certainly not the Clooney "Batman and Robin" incarnation (or abomination?). This is a conflicted (super)hero, struggling internally with his own concepts of justice and duty while he takes on the external pressures of crime and corruption in Gotham City. This is the Batman fans have been waiting for.

The Plot: Batman fights the Joker and his inner doubts

The opening was a spectacular introduction to the Joker character as he stages a daring and deadly heist of a mob bank. But the focus of the film quickly becomes clear: a battle between the anarchic Joker and the rule-bound Batman for the future of Gotham City. Thrown into the mix is the obligatory love interest (Rachel Dawes, played well by Maggie Gyllenhaal), the new District Attorney bent on taking down the mob at any cost (Harvey Dent, with a strong performance from Aaron Eckhart) and the traditional "good cop" (Lt. Gordon, Gary Oldman). Without giving up too much of the story, the twists and turns commence from there.

The Good: Ledger steals the show

Heath Ledger took the role of the Joker to a whole other level, even managing to upstage Jack Nicholson's spectacular work as the villain of villains. Ledger was transcendent and almost unrecognizable as the Joker. Ledger will likely be remembered for this role the most, as it was his last and most popular; but it was quite possibly also his best role. A nomination for best supporting actor seems a lock, and a posthumous award doesn't seem far-fetched.

The Bad: Too much action?

This movie should have been split into two films. Two and a half hours is simply too long for a movie like this; even though it held the audience to their seats with endless action, it was almost over-stimulating and sometimes it was hard to keep track of the motivation for what was happening on screen. The film could have easily ended with the transformation of Dent into Two-Face. Instead it pushes on for another 45 minutes after bringing the audience to an obvious point of conclusion. The general story-telling pattern of rising action, climax, falling action and resolution was not followed in The Dark Knight. (Yes, this is the best complaint I could come up with.)

The Review: Excellent overall film

This movie was nothing if not entertaining. The action sequences were eye-popping, the story kept the audience guessing and the overall design and cinematography were top-notch. There was solid acting from peripheral roles ,(Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine) and Aaron Eckhart was very solid as Dent/Two-Face. Christian Bale's performance was good but not great. He is fantastic playing the spoiled, pretty-boy Bruce Wayne but the whole voice-modulation thing as Batman is a little over the top.

Verdict: Easily the best film of Summer 2008. 9/10.

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